For more than 29 years, Service Industry News has served as the voice of the pool and spa service professional. A twice monthly newspaper, the staff covers featured stories on equipment installation, trouble-shooting and repair; water chemistry and business issues facing the industry; and news pertaining to the interests of the pool and spa technician.

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We've also updated and republished an industry classic on pool care, Charlie Taylor's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Pool Care. This light, easy-to understand and illustrated book has long been a part of any complete library on pool care. Now, it's also available in Spanish!

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Leak dectection technology has grown up

Leak detection has come a long way in the last 20 years. The days of bucket tests, dive and dye tests, and even pressure testing are nearly over. In recent years, leak detection technologies have emerged that can make even the most novice leak detector look like a seasoned veteran.

If you are thinking of getting into the water leak detection business, adding leak detection services to your business offerings can lead to many opportunities. And the ease with which this can be accomplished requires little more than an initial financial investment and some hands-on equipment training.

That is because today’s leak detection equipment features increasingly sensitive listening devices as well as frequency or voltage scanning technologies that make it possible to locate even the smallest of leaks. From a crack in a pipe buried 6 feet underground to a pinhole in a vinyl liner, it is now possible to easily pinpoint a leak to its exact location with the technology that exists today.

Leak detection specialist and inventor, Darren Merlob, owner of Caltech Pools, LeakTronics, and Torque Lock, is a large part of the reason why.

Merlob has been in the pool and spa industry for more than 25 years, working as a pool service professional, and later expanding into pool renovations and leak detection services. In his early work in leak detection, he was daily confronted with a fundamental problem: he really didn’t like his equipment. None of the available listening devices allowed him to hear the actual sound of static leaks within the pool. None of the parts were easy to use without having to cut lines and pressure them up.

When, eventually, some leak equipment manufacturers came out with water-resistant microphones, he found that they lacked the sensitivity to hear any of the smaller leaks, and background noise was very problematic. Furthermore, the units had a finite life span because they were made of light duty and barely waterproof material.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Merlob didn’t like his options, so he invented his own equipment, and branded it under the company name, LeakTronics.

LeakTronics started with a PoolScope, a microphone that employs an ultra-sensitive, sonar transducer that can hear the smallest leaks within the pool shell. The units are handmade, built to last, and can withstand daily use. LeakTronics also developed a PipeMic, which allows you to listen for leaks in return lines, skimmer lines, equalizer lines, spa jets, auto-fill lines, and plumbing.

All of LeakTronics equipment operates off of a single amplifier, the LT1000, which is designed to reduce or eliminate background noise.

In this special issue of Service Industry News, learn the ins and outs of leak detection, using LeakTronics’ equip-ment.

When it comes to leak detection equipment, technologies have emerged that have made it difficult to discuss the leak detection process in general terms. Equipment and methodologies have become increasingly sophisticated and specialized when comparing the products of one manufacturer to the next.

For this reason, Service Industry News has elected to focus this leak detection issue to the products and methods of only one manufacturer.

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